Barca to meet Man City in last 16

FC Barcelona will meet Manchester City in the last 16 of the Champions League after finding out in yesterday’s draw. It’s not exactly the draw that Barca wanted, but who said the Champions League was ever easy?

Although the English press are saying that both Manchester City and Arsenal are paying the price for coming second in the group stages, I think that neither Barcelona nor Bayern Munich are too pleased with the draw, as anything can happen. City is on fire at the moment after beating Arsenal FC by 6 goals to 3 at the weekend and the Gunners are still top of the English Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich may think they have it easier than Barcelona, but that’s not usually the case in the Champions League, as anything can happen. This is the magic of this tournament.

Manchester United meet with Greek outfit Olympiacos, Italian giants A.C Milan meet Atlético Madrid, Bayer 04 Leverkusen come up against French side Paris Saint-Germain, Galatasaray pit their wits against Mourinho’s Chelsea, Raúl’s ex team Schalke 04 play Real Madrid, Football club Zenit meet Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal are to play Bayern Munich.

The first legs of the matches will be played on 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th February with the second legs being played on 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th March respectively.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said that drawing Schalke 04 was “neither good nor bad”. The Italian pointed out that the German team have lots of experience and hinted that Real would have to bring their A game in order to go through.

Barca coach Gerardo Martino said that although Manchester City is a “big opponent” with “excellent players”, “Manchester City won’t have liked it either”, referring to the draw against Barcelona.

Meanwhile City boss Manuel Pellegrini said that Barcelona “will be very concerned about the outcome of the draw”.

“I think Barcelona will be very concerned that they have drawn us. They are not the team of two years ago,” said Pellegrini after learning of the outcome of the last 16 draw.

It’s been an interesting last 16 draw and we can expect lots of action. The only problem is that we have to wait till February of next year for the first legs to be played!